


Fix You

by Mizukixx96



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Angst, Daryl Dixon & Glenn Rhee Friendship, Drama, F/M, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Hope, Protective Daryl Dixon, Romance, Somebody Lives/Not Everyone Dies
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-03
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:14:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,136
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24527455
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mizukixx96/pseuds/Mizukixx96
Summary: Maria Dixon is the youngest of the Dixon siblings, she's broken from the years of pain and torment that still haunt her. She thought that she would be forever broken, that no one would be able to fix her but that all changes when the apocalypse happens and she meets Glenn Rhee.
Relationships: Glenn Rhee/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 15





	1. The Start Of The End

"Get me another beer!"

Will Dixon yelled to his youngest child, Maria Dixon, the young girl in question sighed at her father's request. Maria was 23 years old and still lived at home with her no-good drink of a father, but at least She had her brother Daryl, her other brother Merle however got out as fast as he could leaving the other two siblings to fend for themselves, they hardly saw their older brother, well at least Maria didn’t.

"Where the fuck is my beer girl! Don't make me get that belt ya hear?!"

Maria cringed at the harsh words her father spoke knowing that it wasn't just a threat but a promise, her back twinged at the recent painful memories of just how painful that belt could be. Sighing as she got up to get another beer for her father, if he had anymore, if he didn’t she'd have to sneak out the house and join Daryl in hunting. Her father’s temper was short especially when he'd been drinking which was 90% of the time. When he would drink Maria and Daryl would sneak out the house together and go hunting in an attempt to avoid their fathers rage, the siblings spent most of their childhood in the woods tracking and hunting down animals. Daryl learnt to use a crossbow when he was 10 and Maria learnt how to use a bow, the woods were the only place where they felt safe. 

However Maria didn't go with Daryl today as she needed to fill in job applications, she was filling out as many as she could in hopes that at least one person would employ her after she got fired from her last job at a cafe in town, let's just say Merle pissed of the manager and in return she got fired. It's hard enough finding a job in a small town but it was even harder when your last name is Dixon.

Maria made it to the fridge and pulled out a beer hurrying into the living room she quickly gave it to her father before going back to looking for jobs. She was searching through the paper when a news report about people attacking each other came on but she just shook her head thinking it was just drugged up idiots.

A knock sounded at the door before her uncle walked in, she immediately noticed that his arm was bleeding and rushed over.

"Uncle Rob? What happened?" Maria grabbed his arm gently and gasped as she noticed the teeth marks that pierced her uncles skin.

"I was out hunting with ya brother and some drunk guy in the woods attacked me, tore a chunk straight out of my arm" Rob grit out as she gently pulled his arm from Marias grip, the young girl looked terrified and confused.

Maria looked behind her uncle to see Daryl jogging up the drive his eyes wide with shock at what had happened. A heavy hand landed on her back making her flinch knowing who it was, Will Dixon stood there in a drunk haze eyes narrowed. 

"Well we better go take care of 'em then, show me where they were" Daryl was about to say something but Will cut him off "no! Stay here with your sister, we need to talk when I get back" Will glared at his youngest son telling him that if he argued there’d be a beating later.

Daryl huffed but complied going to stand next to his sister as their father grabbed his shotgun and followed their uncle. Maria was confused and even though she wouldn't admit it a little freaked out. She remembered the news she'd heard earlier about people in Atlanta attacking each other and biting and now her uncle had shown up with a bite, it could just be a coincidence, she thought.

"Ya okay?" Daryl interrupted he thoughts,

"Yeah, it's just weird, heard a news report about people...um...biting each other, just thought it was drugs ya know?"

Daryl grunted "asn’t like no drug I've ever seen before"

"What if it's not drugs, what if it's something else?"

"Like what?"

Maria just shrugged her shoulders "don't know"

A scream pierced the air, both Dixon siblings looked at each other before taking off in a sprint to the woods. When they arrived at the scene Maria clasped her hands over her mouth and tried to hold in the tears. Their uncle Rob was lying on the floor dead with a puddle of blood surrounding him, it looked like it was from the giant bite mark on his neck, her eyes wondered over to her father who was being eaten alive, Maria couldn't believe her eyes maybe her theory about it not being drugs was correct after all, but what the hell was going on? Why were people eating each other? Nothing made any sense.

Will turned to face his two children mouthing a "help me" to them but neither moved. All of a sudden all those years of pain flashed through Maria's memory and she couldn't move, she didn't want too, after everything he'd done to them after all the pain and torment he put them through, why should they save him now? Maria knew she should feel guilty, but she didn't, she was broken because of the man in front of her so why should she save him for he would just break her even more. Then another part of her a smaller part wanted to help, wanted to end his suffering but she just couldn't bring herself to do it.

Then a shot rang out killing the man that was eating her father, her head whipped round seeing Merle covered in blood splatter and stood there breathing heavy with a gun in his hand. She turned back around and walked over to her father staring down at him with an emotionless expression, her two brothers soon came to join her.

"So who wants to kill the prick" Daryl and Maria shot their brother a glare "oh come on he's dying already ain't nothing gonna save him now. Plus, don't tell me that y'all never thought about it?"

Maria had in fact thought about it on those dark nights after her father let his anger out on her in his drunken haze, or the nights when she could hear him doing the same to Daryl or Merle from behind her closed bedroom door. She didn't feel the brunt of her father’s anger as much as her brothers but that was only because they took the pain for her, it was on those nights that she wished she could just do it, but she never did. She had the chance to do it now to finally kill the person who had ruined their lives, but she still couldn't pick up the gun.

"Fine then ya bunch of pussys I'll do it" Merle raised the gun to their fathers head "rot in hell old man"

He pulled the trigger as Maria flinched and turned her head away from the gruesome scene. She felt a flicker of sadness within her at the fact they had lost their only remaining parent and their uncle Rob, but she pushed it away as they had bigger things to deal with.

"Merle what's going on?"

He just looked at his little sister muttering "I need some booze" before storming towards the house.

Maria and Daryl shared a glance before hurrying to follow Merle, if Merle was freaked out it meant that they needed to be worried. Entering the house, they found Merle chugging down a beer before he threw the bottle smashing it against the wall.

"The hell Merle! What's going on with you?" Daryl asked

"Bro I've seen some crazy shit today. People eating people, people coming back from the dead"

"Oh for god sake Merle are you high again!" Maria demanded.

"Shut up sis! Ain't had nothin for a couple days!" He paused running a hand through his short blonde hair "my friend was bitten, he died a couple hours later. Next morning I wake up to him tryin to eat me! So I shot him point blank in the fucking chest"  
"Merle you-"

"Quiet I ain't finished yet! He gets back up so I shot him in the head and he stays dead. I ain't got no clue what the fucks going on but something ain't right" Merle mumbles before taking another beer out of the fridge.

"Do you have to drink so much?" Merle looked at Maria and sighed putting the bottle down, he knew she didn't like people drinking around her and he understood why. Anyone else who told him to stop would've been punched but not her. Even if Merle didn't show it he cared about his little sister.

"Wait I saw something on the news earlier about people attacking and biting each other" Maria suddenly remembered as she rushed into the living room and turned on the TV. The news popped up, it was an emergence government report.

"We don't know what's causing this, all we know is that people who are bitten by those infected will turn, that's how the infection spreads. We plead you not to go near anyone that has been infected. We are setting up a safe zone in Atlanta while the military try and get control of the situation, there will be food, shelter and medical treatment for everyone."

Maria stood there in shock not believing what she was seeing was real, how could this be happening? Her brother was right, they needed to go down to Atlanta she didn't feel safe here anymore not knowing that there was more of those infected people in the woods.

"We should go, it would be safe for us there"

"She right Merle, just until this whole thing blows over"

Merle thought for a moment before nodding his head "fine, get all the supplies and weapons into the truck, just I case this whole thing doesn't blow over"

Maria quickly rushed upstairs to her room pulling out a large backpack and filling it with what little she owned. She put in a couple of shirts, two more pairs of jeans, a hoodie and then a photo of her, Merle and Daryl. She looked at the photo smiling, she was in the middle of the two brothers who had their arms wrapped around her shoulders. Her and Daryl were wearing bright smiles and you could just about make out the tiniest smile on Merle's face as well. She smiled at the memory of that day, it was her 21st birthday and Daryl and Merle had taken her camping for the weekend, she had insisted that they take a family photo as they didn't really have any and the brothers reluctantly obliged.

""Hey Mar you ready to go!" Daryl shouted from downstairs. She quickly shoved the photo into her backpack and reached under the bed to grab her hunting bow and arrows, just in case. She rushed downstairs and saw Daryl stood there with his bag.

"Give me ya bag I'll take it out while you get food and stuff from the kitchen"

Maria nodded and handed her bag to Daryl, she went into the kitchen and started to fill a box with whatever they had which wasn't a lot. A couple cans of soup, some crisps and 6 bottles of water. She was normally the one that did the shopping but this week they had only had enough to pay all the bills which normally resulted in her and Daryl hunting for anything they could find.

A car horn sounding from outside made Maria jump out of her thoughts and rush to pack the rest of the things before hurriedly grabbing her leather jacket and rushing outside. She quickly made her way to the truck and placed the box inside while grabbing a bottle of water for the journey. She noticed that only Daryl was in the truck, looking around she finally spotted Merle at the top of the drive sat on his motorbike waiting impatiently.

"Maria hurry up and get your ass in the truck!" He yelled angrily at her. She quickly did what he asked sliding into the passenger seat. Daryl started up the truck and started on their way to the "safe zone". Maria hoped that this safe zone was real and that the situation would blow over quickly, but something inside her was telling her that it wasn't going to happen that this was only just the beginning of worse things to come.


	2. Road To Atlanta

They had been sat in the car for hours now and Maria was starting to get impatient, the sun was setting and they were still an hour away from getting there. Maria was scared although she wouldn't show it in front of her brothers she hated the fact that they didn't know what was going on. Today had been a long day and all she wanted to do was sleep but ever time she closed her eyes all she could see was that thing eating her father. 

About half an hour later they found themselves stuck behind an RV on the highway, it was clear that no one was going to be moving soon so Maria reached for the handle of the passengers side door.

"The hell are you going?" Daryl demanded

"We've been stuck in this car for hours Daryl, I need to get out and stretch my legs, get some fresh air" Maria sighed when she saw Daryl give her the famous Dixon stare "I promise I won't go far, okay?" 

Daryl reluctantly nodded as she moved to quickly get out of the truck. She was happy that she could finally stretch her legs and feel the breeze on her face. She looked around and saw that most people had gotten out of their cars at this point probably trying to figure out what was going on. Maria let her thoughts wonder to what would happen when they reached the Atlanta safe zone, she hoped that they would finally get real answers to all of this and why people were killing each other. If what Merle said earlier was true then these weren't just people they were supposedly dead people. 

She was pulled from her thoughts by planes flying by overhead, she looked up noticing they were military planes and wondering if they were dropping supplies into Atlanta for everyone. Her question was soon answered though and her thoughts couldn't have been more wrong, they were dropping bombs on the city. She stood there in shock just watching as the military continued to drop bombs all her hope of a safe zone shattering. She couldn't help but think of all the innocent people that were down there and suddenly here fear turned to anger, anger at the people who said everything would be okay, anger at the government for letting this happen and anger at herself for believing them. She couldn't take watching anymore so she ran back to Daryl's truck sliding into the passengers seat and slamming the door closed. Maria looked over at Daryl who was giving her a look of sympathy he knew she was scared so he squeezed her shoulder.

"It's gonna be okay Mar, we'll find somewhere else to go"

She turned to Daryl angered "no Daryl we won't! Clearly this is beyond the government control if they're bombing cities and innocent people. We're screwed!" 

A knock came at her window startling Maria, she turned to see a tall man with Dark curly hair standing there. Confused she slowly rolled down the window,

"Hi folks, a few of us are planning on going to a quarry it's a couple of miles away, pretty secluded"

"And?" Maria asked a hint of annoyance in her voice

"Just letting you know In case you wanted to come with, you know where it is?" 

"Yeah thanks" the man still continued to stare at her "goodbye then" Maria rolled up her window turning to face her brother who raised his eyebrow at her "he was creeping me out, so you think this quarry is a good idea" 

Daryl just shrugged "secluded, water and a forest to hunt in why not? Sure we can put up with these people for a while"

"Okay but I'm staying far away from Mr Creeper over there. I best go tell Merle" she hopped out the truck immediately spotting Merle by the RV talking to some blonde woman who looked liked she'd rather be anywhere else right now. She slowly walked up to him, she wanted to get his attention but didn't really want the attention of the others standing around. She may have been a Dixon but she was much more introverted and shy then her brothers though she was just as tough as them. When she reached Merle she gently pulled his arm but he just shook her off

"Not now little sis I'm getting somewhere here"

The blonde woman scoffed "no you weren't" before she turned and walked away back into the RV. Merle turned around to face his sister

"Ah sis look what ya did, always gotta ruin ma game"

"Merle ya ain't got no game to ruin, plus we're planning on following them to the quarry not to far away from here so please don't piss anyone off"

"Whatever lil sis let's just get going I'm tired" Merle walked away from her and got back on his bike ruffling her hair as he went. Maria groaned fixing her hair before getting back in the truck. They saw an arm wave out the window of the RV as it pulled out of the line of traffic, cars then started following it and when the last car passed Daryl followed behind Merle as they headed to the quarry.

Maria was nervous about going to the quarry and being in close proximity to so many people, she didn't really like people or having to talk to them. Being shy was one of the reasons but the other reason was that she didn't want to get close to people she was afraid that if people got close they would see how messed up and broken she was inside and she didn't want them to see her as weak. The only people that she let close to her were her brothers and she intended to keep it that way.

Roughly an hour later they had all finally made it to the quarry, Daryl parked the truck away from everyone's else's vehicles and she jumped out the passenger seat as she saw everyone gathering. She didn't go over however, she just stood leaning again the closed passenger door where she could just about hear what was being said.

"It's still dark out, so we'll stay in our cars tonight and set up camp properly tomorrow as well as introducing everyone" they creepy guy from earlier said

Daryl leaned over to whisper to his sister "who put mr creeper in charge" 

Maria let out a snort of laughter causing some of the group to look her way, she quickly looked down shuffling her feet slightly at the unwanted attention she had caused.

The guy coughed before saying "y'all go ahead and get some sleep, we'll keep turns in watching for any of those...things"

Everyone hurried back to their cars it probably wouldn't be the comfiest night sleep but it was too late to set up a camp now. Merle walked over to stand beside Daryl "who put that prick in charge? I ain't takin' orders from no one but me" 

"Relax Merle we probably won't be here for long anyway" Daryl mumbled as he headed back towards the drivers side. Merle turned to his sister

"You okay with taking orders from that prick"

Maria just shrugged "I don't wanna argue Merle it's been a long day can we please just sleep" tomorrow was going to be a busy day and she wanted to get as much rest as she could.

Merle just huffed at her before heading towards the bed of the truck hopping in and making himself comfortable. Maria sighed and got back into the passengers seat, she curled up into a ball and rested her head on the window before falling into a restless sleep filled with nightmares.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, sorry this chapter is so short but don't worry the next chapter will be up tomorrow!   
> \- Emily


	3. Camp

The next morning Maria was rudely awakened from her restless slumber by a knock at the passenger window. Her eyes slowly blinked open adjusting to the the sunlight, she could hear Daryl mumbling choice words from next to her. Looking to the left she saw the same guy from last night and mumbled a curse before rolling down the window.

"Morning folks, we're having breakfast and making introductions before setting up camp. Care to join us?"

Maria stared at him with a blank face she didn't really want to meet new people but she knew that eventually she'd have too, after all they would be living together at least for a while. Without saying a word Maria opened her door pushing the guy out the way, she slammed it behind her and turned to face the man crossing her arms.

The man cleared his throat awkwardly before talking "well I'm Shane, it's nice to meet you?" He stuck out his hand for her to shake but she ignored it

"Maria"

"Maria huh? That's a nice name" he smirked at her as she tried her hardest not to cringe. How she wished she could wipe that look off his face.

Suddenly Daryl shoved between the two of them staring Shane down, he was definitely not happy that someone was trying to flirt with his sister.

"Names Daryl and that's my little sister you're hitting on" he got closer to Shane's face "So I suggest you back the fuck off" 

Shane squared off against Daryl ready to defend himself if needed. Maria rubbed her forehead in frustration they'd only been here five minutes and already one of her brothers was picking a fight with a guy who just said her name was "nice". She let out a frustrated growl when she heard Merle's voice sound from behind her,

"We got a problem here lil brother? Do I gotta kick his ass?" Merle stood beside her flinging an arm around her shoulder clearly letting Shane know that this was not gonna go his way.

"Nah man no problems here, just wanted y'all to come to breakfast and meet everyone"

Merle smirked "we'll be right there for you're little sing song around the camp fire"

Shane just nodded his head looking everywhere but at Maria as he started to walk away back towards the gathering crowd of people. Maria looked at her brothers with a scowl on her face clearly displeased with the way they handled that interaction, out of all the Dixon's she was the most level headed and rational.

"What? Mr creepy was clearly checking you out and I am not gonna let that happen. You ain't getting a boyfriend yet especially not him" Daryl pointed his thumb over his shoulder

"I know and trust me I have no interest in him but we need to get along with these people, we have to live with them after all so please be nice" she pleaded

Merle ruffled her hair "when aren't I nice little sis" 

He started to make his way towards the group and Maria was definitely not convinced that he was going to be nice but there was nothing she could do about it, Merle was just...Merle. She turned to face Daryl giving him a stare that said "you better behave or you'll have me to deal with" Daryl just held his hands up knowing that when his sister got angry she could get damn scary. He placed an arm over her shoulder in reassurance as they made their way towards the group.

When they got there an elderly man handed them some cereal bars and a bottle of water that Maria declined as she had water in her bag. Shane then cleared his throat gaining everyone's attention.

"Alright everyone so why don't we just go round say our names and some information about yourselves that's useful to deciding what job you'll do around camp" 

"So what this is like circle time or some shit?" Merle blurted out and Maria just wished that she was invisible as all eyes turned to the trio that were stood apart from everyone else, however Shane just ignored the outburst and continued

"Well I'm Shane Walsh and I was a cop"

Merle snorted "great a pig"

Maria elbowed Merle in the ribs sending him a glare for once again gaining people stares. Merle just shrugged at her.

"Alright then seems as you like talkin' what about you?"

Merle laughed "well I'm Merle, this here is ma little brother and sister Daryl and Maria. And well I did a lot of thing but if I told ya you'd have to arrest me officer" 

Maria spoke quickly to fill the awkward silence "I can hunt, didn't really have a proper job before this but I guess hunting is my best skill, Daryl's pretty good too" 

Shane just nodded his head at her clearly unsure if he should believe her or not. Maria just looked down to the ground while fiddling with her fingers nervously as she felt people's gazes burn into her, she was pretty sure they were judging her and her brothers but that was something she was used too. Finally a tall woman with long brown hair got everyone's attention by introducing herself as Lori, she also introduced her son Carl who had apparently just lost his father. Maria could somewhat sympathise with the boy as she too had just lost her father.

During the next 10 minutes the rest of the group introduced themselves. There was Dale who owned the RV he had picked up two other members of the group Amy and Andrea (the girl Merle was hitting on last night) who were sisters, Maria quite liked Dale he didn't look at her with judgemental eyes like the others. Then there was Ed, Carol and their daughter Sophia, Maria definitely didn't like the look of Ed his cold hard stare sent unpleasant chills down her spine. Then there was Jim, Jacqui and the Morales family along with a couple others, Maria thought that most of the sounded like alright people although she knew that they would be the outcasts, the Dixon's always were. That was mainly due to Merle, he constantly offended other people and annoyed them with his attitude and his anger was another problem altogether. Daryl was a lot more calm than Merle although his anger could be just as bad and just as early provoked, Maria's anger was just as bad as her brothers though you wouldn't think it with how quiet and introverted she could be, due to this it also took a lot more to get her anger to raise its ugly head.

Once everyone was finished introducing themselves Shane said that they should all start setting up camp and pulling all their supplies together. On their way back to the truck Merle spoke up 

"I don't see why we're listening to that prick, who put him in charge anyway"

"Merle please don't make a scene okay? We have to live and work with these people now so at least try to be a team player, for me" she looked up at Merle giving him her best puppy eyes that always managed to melt his heart a tiny bit.

Merle grumbled under his breath befor responding "fine but if anyone pisses me off its not my fault"

Maria gave a small smile as she knew that was the best she would get out of him, he never really listened to anyone except her sometimes. When she got to the truck she grabbed her pack out the back and made her way over to the RV where they were collecting and storing all the food, she slowly made her was over to Dale clearing her throat to get his attention

"Um I have some food and water, should I just leave it here?" 

The old man turned to her with a small smile on his face "thank you very much Maria was it?"

She nodded "yeah it's not much just a couple tins of soup and some crisps it was all we had"

"Anything is better than nothing, thank you. Oh and you can keep the water there's a lake just down there so finding more won't be hard" he took the cans from her and placed them into a box with all the others before turning to her again "do you have a tent?" 

She shook her head no and he sighed "damn we'll need to find some from somewhere then, not everyone has one" he looked round as if he was looking for someone before calling "hey Shane!"

Shane turned from his conversation with Lori "yeah Dale"

"We'll need to make a run somewhere, we don't have a lot of tents and this food won't last more than a week. Plus we could do with some other supplies" 

"Yeah that sounds like a good idea, does anyone know anywhere?" 

By this point most of the group had gathered round the RV to see what was going on. After a moment of silence Maria quietly cleared her throat "um I know somewhere, it's a camping/hunting store just outside the city I got there a lot with my brothers" 

She nervously rubbed her arm as she noticed all the eyes on her "I could um take you there but one of my brothers would have to come"

Shane seemed to think about it for a moment before nodding his head "sounds like a plan, can you use a gun?"

"Not really but I'm pretty good with a bow if any of those...things show up" it was true Maria was a damn near prefect shot with a bow, she never missed her target.

"Sounds good to me, so just you and me?"

"And Daryl" she clarified not wanting him to believe it would just be the two of them plus she really didn't want to be alone with him. A look of anger quickly crossed Shane's face before it disappeared and he just nodded once at her.

"Fine, the three of us will go in the morning see what we can find"

With that said Maria went to the truck where Daryl and Merle were sorting out their thinks, she was nervous about telling them but she knew she had too, after all she volunteered Daryl to go with them. Honestly the main reason she wanted to go was to get out of camp for a while, they hadn't even been here a day and already she felt suffocated by all these people around her. She approached Daryl courteously 

"So I volunteered to take Shane to the camping store that's just outside Atlanta" she thought there was no point in beating around the bush about it so she came right out and said it.

Both brothers dropped what they were holding and turned to her and exclaiming at the same time "what?!"

"Before you get your panties in a twist I kinda said that Daryl would come too"

"Awh man why you gotta volunteer me for shit Mar?!" Daryl grumbled

"And why didn't you say old Merle instead huh?"

"Okay firstly because I didn't want to be alone with mr creepy over there and secondly Merle I didn't want you causing any trouble with him, we need these supplies" she rubbed her arm and turned away from her brothers in slight embarrassment of what she was about to say "plus I need to get out of here, too many people, it's suffocating"

Daryl gave Maria a sympathetic look, he knew that she didn't do well around people especially big crowds of them. "Fine I'll come with ya but you owe me"

"Thanks Dar" she smiled softly at her older brother as he went back to sorting out his things. She found herself getting nervous about tomorrow a bunch of thoughts worming their way into her head, she couldn't help but think of what would happen if they came across one of those things she knew she would have to kill it but she wasn't sure if she could, after all they were human. 

The rest of the day was spent sorting out the camp and making small talk to people who passed by. There wasn't really much anyone could do until they got more supplies tomorrow. When night came everyone sat round a fire a man named T-Dog had built in the middle of camp, everyone that is except the three Dixon siblings who decided to eat in the bed of their truck where the sleeping bags were. They were having a discussion about tomorrow and Merle was telling her that she better comeback unharmed or he'd "kick officer pricks ass into the ground" which caused her to laugh. Merle may be an asshole sometimes but he did care about his family and he would do anything to protect them. 

The next morning they got up early to get ready for their run to the camping store. Maria grabbed her bow and arrows and strapped them to her back as Daryl grabbed his crossbow. Merle watched over to them

"If you come back with so much as a scratch I'll-"

"Yes Merle I know, you'll kill him"

Merle chuckled and pulled her into a one armed hug "that's good little sis, now you better get back quickly I don't wanna be alone with these people too long"

Maria and Daryl just nodded before turning away and heading towards Shane's jeep. They wanted to take take their truck but Shane insisted that they should all ride together.

"Y'all ready to go" Shane called slinging the shotgun onto his shoulder

"Yeah" was their only reply. Before Shane could say anything else Daryl hopped into the passenger seat as Maria hopped into the the back, it was clear by the look on his face that Shane wasn't happy with the seating arrangements but Daryl had insisted that he didn't want her sitting next to Shane. After staring at the two siblings for a moment Shane got in the truck,

"You all be careful now!" They heard Dale yell, Maria turned round and gave the old man a thumbs up as Shane started the engine and pulled away from camp. Maria let the wind whip through her hair as she relaxed slightly at the fact she was away from all those people, although in here stomach she felt a pang of worry for what was awaiting them out there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, next chapter will finally introduce Glenn!


	4. Who The Hell Are You?

The drive to the camping store was awkward to say the least, Shane had tried to make small talk but the Dixon siblings had ignored him or in Daryl's case just gave grunts in reply, so the man decided to remain silent. Maria just sat in the backseat ignoring everything else and taking in the scenery, it unnerved her to see the streets so abandoned and silent. It got her thinking how quickly the world had gone to shit, her world was already shit before all this even happened, in her eyes this new world was just another thing to add to the ever growing list of bad things she'd been through.

"Turn left here, it's just up here on the right" Daryl said breaking Maria out of her thoughts.

Shane turned left and within less than a minute he was parking the car and turning to face them. "We go in get what we need and get out, no delays and if you see one of those things holler"

"Yes officer, can we go now?" Maria grumbled just wanting to get this over with. The street they were on seemed to be quiet too quiet for Maria's liking but at least they hadn't seen any of those dead people. Maria grabbed her bow and readied it as they made their way to the shop. Shane stopped as they got to the door, his hand resting on the handle.

"What's wrong?" Maria questioned

"Just doesn't feel right is all, feels like I'm breaking the law"

Dary scoffed at that last comment "worlds gone to shit ya need to get used to it. Now are we doing this or not?"

Maria could see Shane glaring at Daryl but ignored it not wanting to course a scene. Shane slowly opened the door and raised his shot gun as he looked round the store with Maria close behind him. Once they had determined that the store was clear Shane turned to face the two siblings. "We split up, meet back here in 5"

Shane didn't wait for conformation as he began strolling to one side of the store. Daryl then turned to Maria "you stay as close as you can got it?"

"Yes Dar I know" Maria rolled her eyes at her overly protective older brother, she loved him for it but sometimes his over protectiveness could be annoying, he still treated her like his little 10-year-old sister when she was a fully grown adult who was perfectly capable of taking care of herself.

Maria walked to the back of the store where she found a glass case full of different types of knives from pocket to hunting. She thought about breaking the glass but thought better of it as it could attract unwanted attention. She was thinking about how else it could be opened when her eyes spotted a door marked office in the far corner of the store, if there were keys she'd bet they were in there.

She drew her bow as and slowly started to head in the direction of the office, one there she grabbed the door handle and let out a breath of relief upon finding it unlocked. As she slowly opened the door she checked the room, seeing nothing she quietly moved in lowering her bow. Her eyes swept around the room until they stopped on a pair of keys laying on the desk, "well that was easy" she mumbled to herself as she strode over and picked them up.

Maria turned around and upon seeing someone there hidden behind the door she screamed, dropping the keys and raising her bow in case he was a threat. The young Asian man wearing a cap and a heavy looking backpack held up his hands and stammered "please don't shoot! I'm not one of them I swear I just wanted supplies and...and, please don't kill me"

"Why were you hiding behind the door?" Maria asked not lowering her bow or taking her eyes off him, her heart was hammering in her chest as she tried to work out if she could trust him or not.

"You scared me! I thought you were one of those" she saw the young man gulp slightly "can you please lower the bow?"

Maria did as he asked, seeing how scared he looked and the fact that he wasn't armed made her lower her guard slightly, although she was ready to raise her bow again if needed. Daryl and Shane came barging in the room demanding to know what was going on. Maria just explained that the guy had given her a fright and that was all. Daryl stood slightly Infront of Maria and turned his gaze to the young man that was still staring at them like a scared puppy,

"what's ya name boy" Daryl asked still keeping a wary eye on the stranger

"G-Glenn, Glenn Rhee"

"You out here all by yourself?" Shane was the next one to question him, poor Glenn looked absolutely terrified and Maria felt slightly sorry for him.

"Yeah it's just me, I came here to get a sleeping bag and tent, was gonna head somewhere secluded ya know"

Shane just nodded at the scared male before he got this look on his face like he was thinking of something. Maria was also thinking, she was thinking that maybe they should bring him back she felt bad that he was out here alone.

"Why don't you come back with us?" Maria looked to Shane "that would be okay right?"

Daryl scoffed clearly not liking her idea but a glare from the younger woman soon stopped whatever comment he was about to make. Shane on the other hand just shrugged his shoulders like he didn't care, Maria sighed at the two males in front of her before turning to face Glenn. "Get all you need we leave in 10 minutes, it's the jeep out front"

Glenn looked over at the two men clearly still anxious about the situation he had found himself in, he then turned back to Maria giving a small smile "uh thanks, that would be great"

Maria just nodded at him before exiting the room followed by Daryl. He clearly wasn't happy with the fact that she had just invited a stranger back to camp but Maria didn't care, they were all technically still strangers to each other.

Daryl grabbed Maria's arm as the was unlocking the knife cabinet "why'd you invite him back? Just another mouth to feed Mar"

Maria didn't even turn to look at him as she picked up a knife and placed it in her bag "because he's all alone Daryl I couldn't just leave him here could I?"

"Could've" Maria shot Daryl a warning look and he just held up his hands in surrender "fine then, sometimes I wonder how a Dixon managed to grow up with such a kind heart"

Maria smiled slightly everyone was always surprised that the quiet little Dixon girl had such a kind heart due to the fact that the rest of her family weren't like that at all. Although she did have a bad side like her brothers however she didn't show it often only when someone threatened her family.

"You have a kind heart too Dar, you just don't like to show it" she smiled as Daryl just scoffed at her before moving to a different part of the store. Maria continued looking at the knives as she felt someone come up behind her

"Um hi" Glenn awkwardly waved "I just wanted to say thank you again"

"Stop saying thank you" Maria felt there was no need for "thank you's" now, she just did what anyone would've done. She looked over at the shy man who was now shuffling his feet "you got a weapon"

"What?"

"Do you have a weapon? Gonna need one if ya don't"

Glenn scratched the back of his neck out of nervous ness "uh n-no I don't"

Maria looked at the collection of knives before picking up a large hunting knife with a green handle, handing it to him she said "here take this one"

"Oh I don't-"

"You'll need it just in case you come across one of those things out there, you can't talk them to death ya know" Glenn laughed slightly attaching the knife to his belt.

"Thank you"

"No problem, you got everything? It's almost time to go" she said picking up her pack that was full of knives and other things they may need for camp. Even though she wanted the space from all the new people she was anxious to get back to Merle he always had a way of finding trouble. Usually he'd start talking and somehow get punched if she wasn't there to shut him up, she loved her brother but sometimes he could be a real pain in the ass.

"Hey you two!" Shane called out "ready to go?"

"Yeah!" She yelled back turning to see Glenn picking up his backpack before following out the store. They all threw their bags in the back of the truck before getting in the same seats as before, except this time Glenn was in the back next to Maria. Shane started the jeep as Maria leaned her head on the window. After about five minutes of driving Maria felt a slight tap on her shoulder, looking to the left she saw Glenn staring at her.

"Yeah?"

"I um forgot to ask your name"

"It's Maria, Maria Dixon"

"Maria? That's a beau - I-I mean cool, that's a cool name" the young man laughed nervously as Maria raised an eyebrow at him

"Thanks...I guess"

"I'm Glenn Rhee, but you already knew that I told you earlier and now I'm rambling, sorry I ramble when I'm nervous my mother used to say that-"

Maria placed a hand over his mouth effectively stopping the poor mans rambling. "Please stop talking" Glenn looked at her and nodded his head before Maria slowly removed her hand. She had to admit that the rambling was slightly adorable, but she was getting a slight headache from it all.

"Thank god" Daryl mumbled. Maria hit the back of his head lightly in a way of telling him to shut up before she turned to face Glenn again.

"We'll be back soon, Shane will introduce you to everyone, he's the one that does all that kinda stuff"

"I'm grateful, promise that I'll help out in any way possible"

Maria smiled slightly at Glenn before turning back to the window. She was glad that Glenn had decided to come back with them he seemed nice and someone that she could maybe get along with. There aren't many people at camp that are around her age only Amy, but she spent all her time with Andrea.

Going up the hill back to camp she could just see everyone either preparing dinner or sitting round talking. Worry started to set in as she didn't see Merle anywhere. They stopped and Maria immediately hopped out the car, she made her way over to Dale as Shane introduced Glenn to the rest of the group. They all seemed to like him so far which was a good sign.

"Hey Dale, have you seen Merle anywhere?"

"Yeah saw him go into the woods about 15 minutes ago"

Maria thanked Dale and headed straight for the woods. She knew what her brother was doing and she was going to kick his ass when she found him.

After only a couple minutes of searching she found her older brother leaning against a tree, he was clearly high.

"Ay baby sis! You back already?"

Maria didn't say anything she took long strides over to Merle before slapping him "how dare you! You promised you weren't gonna do that shit, especially when I was around!"

"Woah chill out sis, here have some maybe it will stop you from being so uptight"

Maria knocked the small bag of meth out of Merle's hands, her eyes glared at him furiously "fuck you Merle, you know exactly why i don't do shit like that"

With that said Maria sent one final glare to her brother before storming off. She could hear her brother yell "bitch" at her retreating form which she chose to ignore. She hated drugs and for a very good reason, a friend of Merle's had beaten her once and Merle was too high to even give a shit, said that she shouldn't have pissed the guy off. All she did was refuse to sleep with him and ever since then Maria never went back to Merle's flat. Merle himself had apologised endlessly even beat the guy so badly he ended up in the hospital, but Maria still couldn't forget what happened.

Walking back into camp she walked passed Glenn "You okay Maria?"

"Just leave me alone" she snapped back causing a slight look of hurt to cross his face. Part of her felt bad for snapping at him but right now she couldn't take it all she wanted to do was get her tent set up so she could hide away from the world. So that's what she did she grabbed a tent and started setting it up away from all the others completely ignoring what was going on around her. Once done she grabbed her stuff and placed it in her small one-person tent.

She didn't feel like going back out to join everyone for dinner, so she just sat there and let all the emotions out that had been building up inside her the past couple days. The dead coming back to life, her father and uncle dying and finding out Merle was still on drugs. She cried for what felt like hours only just hearing someone set something down in her tent. She didn't care though she just wanted to sit and cry until she fell to sleep


End file.
